Category: Water
When the revolution in Rojava began, the groundwater level was very low due mainly to industrial monoculture agriculture organised by the Syrian regime over the last four decades, as well as a decline in rainfall as a result of the global climate crisis.
In 2015, Turkey started to use water as a weapon against Rojava by holding back the water on the rivers which flow from Turkey to Syria through the dams it has been building over the last twenty years.
Then, in October 2019, Turkish state forces invaded some areas of North-East Syria, including the region of Serekaniye, which supplies water to almost half a million people in the region around Hasakah. The Alouk water station in Serekaniye was targeted on the first day of the invasion. Since then it has been fixed and then put out of service again repeatedly.
Since the start of the invasion of Serekaniye, Turkish military forces and their allies have continued to attack water infrastructure, burned newly planted orchards and dammed the rivers providing most of the fresh water and electricity to Syria. Hundreds of thousands of people are currently without safe reliable drinking water, a situation only exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the articles below, you can find more information about issues surrounding water and the struggles for water autonomy in North and East Syria. There are also articles here with information on issues around water in southeastern Turkey, such as Turkish megaproject the Ilisu Dam, whose waters have now submerged the ancient city of Hasankeyf, drowning thousands of years of largely unexcavated human history and displacing an estimated 100,000 people, while giving Turkey unprecedented control over waters of the wider region.
People begin to plant vegetables in Shaddadi
After inadequate rains throughout North and East Syria, people in Shaddadi have begun to plant vegetables in order to meet daily vegetable need.
Turkey deactivates 30 more water stations in Syria
Thirty more water stations have been deactivated in northeast Syria, as Turkey continues to cut off the water supply from the Euphrates River.
Turkish seizure of Euphrates increases rationing hours in Syria’s Kobani
Rationing hours of power will increase in case the level of the Euphrates river continues to decline due to Turkey’s seizure of water, an official of Electricity Directorate in Kobani, northern Syria, said on Sunday. “Turkey has been cutting water to Rojava Dam (formerly Tishrin) for four months forcing the administration of the dam to
Agricultural areas in Ain Issa risk drying out
Agricultural areas in Ain Issa risk drying out as the Turkish state reduces the water flowing through the Euphrates River.
Al-Elwa water station ready to provide water to Hesekê
Hesekê General Water Directorate completed the preparations for the water station in al-Elwa, south of Shedadi. The station will deliver water to Hesekê.
Turkey uses Water as Political Blackmail
Co-president of the Manbij Electricity Administration Meha Haj Elî stated that the Turkish state used the Euphrates River as a political blackmail and did not comply with international agreements.
Women in Kobane Work Communally to Overcome Drought Conditions
The women in Kobane are coming together to work on the fields and try to give life to the lands suffering from this Turkish-made drought.
Water and Democracy in North and East Syria
Our people survived the authoritarian Syrian regime for decades. We withstood the past decade of war and instability. We battled the invading armies of ISIS. We have weathered a crushing economic collapse in the past year. With our inspiring democratic model, and with our unity and persistence, we can bring water and life back to Hasakah.
Hasankeyf Submerged by a Turkish Dam
Hasankeyf, an ancient town in Turkey’s south-eastern province of Batman (Êlih) – with a history of 12,000 years of human settlement – was engulfed in 2019 by the reservoir of a controversial hydroelectric dam project.
Turkey’s Water Seizure Increases Farmers’ Suffering in Syria’s Manbij
The recent seizure of the Euphrates water by Turkeyhas increased the sufferings of the villagers in the countryside of Manbij, north Syria.
Water, the Source of Life
Water is the source of life. To North and East Syria, there is no source of water more vital than the Euphrates river. The Euphrates river has been used to power critical hydroelectric dams, irrigate farmland, provide transportation, maintain the many ecosystems of the region, and supply drinking water to a large number of towns
